


The Nerdzone

by Enting



Category: Fake News RPF, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: I have no idea how long this will be, M/M, alternative reality, and he would take jon with him, being transported into a fictional world, honestly if anyone were to end up in the LOTR universe it would be stephen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 18:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11408514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enting/pseuds/Enting
Summary: In which Jon and Stephen end up in Middle-Earth as they are trying to figure out their feelings for each other.





	1. A Long-expected Party, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Jon's last show, where Stephen compared Jon to Frodo and himself to Sam. It might be useful to have read/seen Lord of the Rings and seen the bit with Stephen on Jon's last show before you read this. Just a tip :)

It would be Stephen's birthday next week, and Jon felt it was time to spend some quality time with his best friend and the man he'd had a crush on since the moment he first saw him.   
So, what would be Stephen's ideal way of spending his birthday? Jon had been at his birthday parties before. They were always filled with friends and family, all laughing. It always felt like a bomb of love had exploded in the middle of the party, and everyone always looked at Stephen with all the adoration he deserved... Jon loved those parties, because they made Stephen shine like a happy diamond.   
But this year Stephen had knocked on Jon's office door, peeked his handsome face around the corner and had casually told him that they should really do something together, just the two of them. Of course Jon had agreed, his heart skipping a beat.   
So now he had to come up with something great. Something that Stephen would definitely love, and that would be intimate but not too intimate, although Jon wouldn't mind that at all. He just didn't want to scare Stephen off. He had to think of something that couldn't possibly go wrong.  
Got it. Lord of the Rings. A full weekend. Movie marathon, board game, reading to each other... "Oh, hell yeah." Jon mumbled to himself, a smile playing on his lips. Stephen was going to be so excited when he heard about this.

\---that weekend---

Jon checked his suitcase for the final time. Clothes, check. Toothbrush, check. The Gandalf action figure he bought on Amazon for too much money, check. He knew Stephen already had the movies and the books. Suddenly he felt like a primary school kid on his first sleepover again. But this was much better. Excited, he zipped his suitcase and headed over to Stephen's home, grinning all the way.

"Jon!" Stephen opened the door, beaming. "Hey, Stephen." Jon greeted back. 

"Come in! You can put your suitcase here. Sorry I'm still in my pyjamas, I didn't think you would mind. Come here." Stephen pulled Jon in for a hug and Jon laughed. "I like your pyjamas. They suit you." 

Jon suddenly felt something wet on his head and realised it came from Stephen's hair. 

"Oh, I just came out of the shower. My hair's still a bit wet." Stephen explained, using his thumb to carefully dry Jon's forehead. Jon felt slightly dizzy at his touch. 

"Why don't we head to the living room? I've got snacks." Jon gratefully accepted his invitation and followed him to his living room. Once there, he gasped.

"Wow. Stephen. You either had far too much time on your hands, or you were REALLY looking forward to this weekend." 

Jon blinked a few times as he observed the room. The curtains were closed to make the room dark, but lights in different colours gave the room a mysterious glow. The couch had been transformed into a cozy bed from which you could watch TV perfectly. There were several blankets and pillows with a Lord of the Rings-themed print on them. Besides the couch, a stack of books. Probably lots of different LOTR and the Hobbit editions, along with the Silmarillion and other Tolkien books, Jon guessed. Extended editions of the dvd's were piled up next to the TV. Action figures on every shelf. The Hobbit soundtrack was playing from somewhere in the back of the room. The smell of delicious snacks. Wait, was that Lembas bread? 

Stephen grinned. "Jon, we both know I don't have a lot of time off." He looked adoringly at the room. "I tried to make it as realistically Middle-Earth as possible." 

"It's beautiful," Jon said. He didn't know if he was talking about the room or about the smile on Stephen's face. In either case, he genuinely meant it.

"So, what shall we start with, my dear Frodo?" Stephen asked.

Jon remembered the Gandalf action figure. "Actually I've got something for you. Hold on a sec." He sprinted back to the suitcase that he'd left in the hallway and carefully took out the small wizard. When he returned to the living room he saw that Stephen had already seated himself on the couch and was trying to find his favorite blanket. Jon watched him for moment as he found it. He tried not to think about the fact that the blanket had a print of Frodo and Sam on it. 

When he entered the room Stephen looked up and held up another blanket for Jon. Jon could feel his heart accelerating and he blushed slightly as he joined Stephen on the couch and crept under the soft blanket. He took out the badly gift-wrapped box and handed it to Stephen. "For your collection." Jon smiled. "May this year be magical for you. Happy birthday, Stephen."

Stephen grinned like a child, already having an idea of what it could be. The look on his face when he saw Gandalf appear from under the wrapping paper was one of pure joy. "This was my only missing action figure!" he beamed. "Oh Jon, thank you so much." Bending forward he put his arms around Jon's waist, hugging him closely. "I love you so much, Jon." 

Jon hoped Stephen couldn't feel his heart pounding as he wrapped his arms around Stephen's shoulders, returning the embrace. "I love you too, buddy."


	2. A Long-expected Party, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of Jon and Stephen's LOTR weekend, complete with fluff.

They were halfway through the first movie. Stephen had decided it would be a good idea to share a blanket instead of having two separate blankets. Jon couldn't say no to that. 

Right now, Stephen was resting his head on Jon's shoulder and they were doing a quote-along. Stephen knew almost every part of the script, and sometimes he would close his eyes and pretend to have fallen asleep, burying his face in Jon's shoulder and wrapping his arms around him. Then he would surprise Jon by saying the exact right quotes at the exact time the characters in the movie said them. It made Jon smirk every time.

By the end of the movie, Jon had gotten used to Stephen's tendency to look for physical contact. "You really like cuddling, huh?" He had asked him during an uneventful moment in the movie. "Hmmm." Stephen had responded. Stephen had looked up to see if he was bothering Jon, but from Jon's expression he'd decided he wasn't, so he just smiled and rested his head on his shoulder. 

Jon couldn't think of a better way to spend time with Stephen, except maybe a situation where Stephen actually knew how much Jon liked him. But right now, this moment... Stephen's soft hair brushing against his face, the warmth of his body pressing against him through his thin pyjamas, in a darkened room... honestly, if you put it like that it seemed like the gayest sleepover he had ever heard of. But Jon knew, or at least thought he knew, that all of this - the cuddling, the smiles - was platonic. They'd known each other for a long time and loved each other deeply - as FRIENDS. This get-together was nothing more than just some quality time between two best friends. Right? 

When the first movie ended, neither of them felt like getting up to put the second DVD into the TV. They just sat on the couch, leaning against each other. "I'm glad you're here with me, Jon," Stephen said. "Me too," Jon replied.

"Do you want me to read some of the second book to you?" Stephen asked. "I'd love that," Jon smiled. Stephen sat up to grab the book and Jon couldn't help but reach out to him and take his hand. Stephen turned around, a questioning look on his face. Their eyes locked and Jon wanted to say it - he wanted to say he loved him as more than just friends. He wanted to say it so badly, but all that came out of his mouth was an awkward laugh, and Stephen broke the eye-contact, focusing on the book.

 

Stephen felt very cuddly today. Perhaps it was because two of his favorite things were here with him: Jon and the Lord of the Rings. Perhaps it was just because the weather was nice. He and Jon had always been very touchy-feely, so Stephen didn't see it as anything particularly strange that they had just spent nearly three hours cuddling. It was also normal to Stephen that whenever he hugged Jon, he could feel Jon's heartbeat racing. He had never really thought there could be something behind that racing heart, something more than just friendly love. He just thought it was cute. What was different today, however, was that Jon had started to blush whenever Stephen looked him in the eye, not to speak of that moment when Stephen had kissed his cheek. Jon had then practically turned into a red balloon. And when Jon grabbed his hand just now... As Stephen opened the second Lord of the Rings book he wondered what was going on, but decided to give Jon time to touch upon the subject himself. A spark in his heart hoped that Jon would tell him he was in love with him, but Stephen quickly shoved that thought away. Where the hell did that come from? He thought. He didn't have any of those kind of feelings for Jon - he couldn't have. They were just friends, and had been for ages. Right?

Stephen focused on the book and started reading the first page as Jon laid down, put his head comfortably in Stephen's lap and closed his eyes. Jon happily accepted the sleep that Stephen's soft voice so angelically provided. When Stephen finished the first chapter he looked down and saw Jon's handsome face resting peacefully on his legs, his breath steady. Stephen softly closed the book and put it away, before carefully moving Jon's head so that he could lay next to him on the couch. He pulled his favorite blanket over the two of them and looked at Jon's pretty face again, now only inches away. He closed his eyes and smiled. Yeah, this was his perfect birthday party.


	3. The Shadow of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day of Stephen and Jon's LOTR weekend. Something rather unexpected happens.
> 
> As you may or may not have noticed, the titles for the chapters come straight from the LOTR chapters :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short note on Hobbits for non-LOTR-readers: Hobbits live in the Shire, which is located in Middle-Earth. They love food.

They woke up late the next day because the blinds were still shut. Somehow overnight, their limbs had become entangled and Jon was practically lying on top of Stephen, his head resting on his chest.

Jon was the first to wake up. He'd never been a big sleeper, anyway. Apparently, Stephen's pyjamas had sort of crept up overnight so that his stomach was now uncovered, except for the part where Jon was lying on top of it, that is. Jon had to blink a few times before he realised where he was and what was happening. For a moment he thought the day had finally come when he had confessed his love to Stephen and they had made gentle love on the couch that night and that that was the reason he was somehow lying on top of Stephen, but he soon realised that hadn't been the case. He sighed deeply.

Suddenly he was startled by a loud, rumbling sound and looked up, only to find Stephen's warm, twinkling eyes meeting his. Another rumble.

"Sorry, I've normally already had breakfast at this point," Stephen explained.

"What time is it?" Jon asked, now really starting to wake up. Stephen freed his arm and looked at his watch. "1 p.m." He stated. "Good morning, by the way." Stephen ruffled Jon's hair. "You look cute with messy hair. We should do this more often."

"You think we should have more sleepovers because of my hair?" Jon asked with a grin.

"Well, that would certainly be one of the main reasons. Another could be that we now get to make breakfast together, which I believe we've never done before," Stephen said. Jon sighed dramatically. "Is food all you can ever think about, Stephen? Or should I say 'Sam'? You're almost like a hobbit."

Stephen smirked at the comparison. "You're right. But what can I do? I love to eat, Jon."

Jon rolled his eyes and unwillingly got up, pulling Stephen's pyjama top right in the process. "I have to say, you're in a good shape for a man of your age." He smirked. Stephen raised his eyebrows and got up as well, yawning. "Says the man who is two years older than me."

"Fuck off." Jon stretched, turned to Stephen and hugged him close. "Good morning to you too, by the way." 

***ten minutes later***

"These are actually better than they look." Jon looked down at the burned eggs on his plate. Stephen looked at them sceptically, poking his fork into them. "I have a feeling you're just saying that to make me feel better about my own creation." 

"Aw, of course not. And even if I were I'd probably be right. It can't get much worse than how these look." He grinned as Stephen poked his fork at his arm. "Ouch!" 

They sat back and enjoyed their breakfast for as much as one can enjoy a burned breakfast shared with a friend, and watched the news for a bit. Nothing unusual was happening, other than the usual weirdness that seemed to come in the same package as 'politics'. They joked about it for a bit, speculating about bits that Stephen could do on his show.

All of a sudden the TV went black, with a loud  _bang_. Confused, Stephen got up to check on the TV.

"Nothing wrong with the cable, it seems."

"That's weird, my phone isn't working anymore either." Jon reached out to Stephen's phone. "And neither is yours."

"Maybe my computer still works? It wasn't plugged in last night but it should still have more than enough battery. It's in my study just around the corner." Stephen held out his hand to help Jon get up and they walked to the door. Suddenly a strange noise startled the both of them. 

"Was that a scream?" 

"Uh, I hope not."

Slowly opening the door, Stephen peeked around the corner. Immediately, he squealed and slammed the door shut. Jon started giggling uncontrollably. "I have...literally never heard you...make that noise before." He attempted to imitate the high-pitched shrieking but failed miserably, causing him to only laugh more. 

"Shut up, you idiot! Look!" Stephen opened the door again just slightly, enough for Jon to see what was behind it. 

"Holy shit! Did you do this as well?!" Jon gasped and opened the door further.

"I didn't do anything! I have no idea where this came from!" Stephen swallowed and allowed himself to have another look at the spectacle in front of them.

Grass greener than any they had ever seen before was spread out over hills, reaching into the distance. A stream of water, playfully splashing and gurgling, made its way downhill from where children's voices were echoing. Tiny, round doors were built into the sides of the smaller hills, and each of them had colourful flowers in beautiful bouquets next to them.

Jon and Stephen stared at the fantastical landscape, speechless. After a few moments, Stephen swallowed and let out an astonished laugh.

"Jon... I think we're in the Shire."

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued. Let me know what you think!


End file.
